Welcome to On Q magazine.

I'm Stacy Smith.

Well, 2006 is almost over.

And in downtown Pittsburgh, final preparations are now being made as the city gets ready to welcome tens of thousands of Pittsburghers who gather downtown on New Year's Eve to take part in first Night celebrations.

Now, first night organizers say that this year will be bigger and better than ever with a countdown to midnight that will showcase the future of Pittsburgh.

On cue, contributor Mike Lee gives us this first look at first night.

It's a night of celebrating the promise of another year.

So many celebrations across the globe.

But in Pittsburgh, tens of thousands ring in the new year, with first night.

Happy New Year.

The first night is a great new Pittsburgh tradition.

The first night is about sampling all the wonderfu artistic and cultural activities that we actually have here year round.

This is a great opportunity for people who want to enjoy not only a night out on a special night, new Year's Eve, but also, do something a little perhaps a little more uplifting.

And first night has become a Pittsburgh favorite.

It's a great chance to be with people.

It's all alcohol free, so it's nice and safe.

First night is actually a concep that originated in Boston in 1976.

A group of artists banded together to create a family friendly alcohol free, safe celebration of the arts.

And in 1994, Pittsburgh joined over 201st night cities worldwide.

First night began as an independent production.

Today it's produced by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, which uses its many assets i the cultural district downtown.

As first night galleries and venues in tall, the Bennington Center, the Byram Theater, and countless more.

We have a wonderful parade.

It starts about 8:00.

It's not the big fancy holiday parades that you associate with the big retailers.

This is a kid friendly.

Downhome.

Sort of parade.

It's just about having a good time.

And kid line up along the curb and sip and just have a sort of this twinkle in their eyes.

Just the part that I like the most.

It's fireworks have put together a beautiful showcase for us at 6 p.m.

for the children's fireworks.

And then at midnight, they'll have a beautiful displa right above Penn Avenue place.

But there are so many things in between.

More than 100 performances and activities at over 40 sites from a local Cajun man.

Wine gumbo, the dance alloy at the Capitol Theater, the iguanas from New Orleans at the Stanwix and Penn Main stage, and the city' largest game of musical chairs.

Imagine just hundreds of chairs lined up along Penn Avenue.

We're going to have a lot of fun, playing musical chair and lots of activities for kids.

But people of all ages have a great time just wandering around, people watching.

And if you are wandering around on first night, you'll most likely run into these folks.

So we will be performing i first night, 2007, on the corner of Penn and Ninth with a piece called Take Your Pick.

Attack theater has been a part of First Night Pittsburgh since the beginning, and what ended up happening out of that is that Attack theater was actually born.

That was our very first official attack data performance was the first, first line in Pittsburgh.

And the great thing about first night audiences is that over the years since 95, they've been accustomed to looking for art in unexpected places.

And that's really great for artists as wel as for the audience, an audience that's perhaps as diverse as the artists themselves.

Do we have a chance to perform for a crazy, diverse group of people, different people, and just walking through whole new crazy audiences from little kids up to grandparents and people that live in Pittsburgh and peopl that don't live in Pittsburgh.

Sometimes after our performances, we'll have people that come up to us and say, I came in here from Boston because my family is here, I'm from Philly, you're from California, and I do the first night out there.

This person here is so much better than I've ever seen.

And perhaps the best is still to come to this year's festivities.

We have such a variety of things going on in the cultural district.

Year round.

It was.

We were we were struggling, actually, with what could we do to make first night even more special?

We got into brainstorming and said, hey, a lot of people have this, this countdown to midnight.

Why don't why don't we do that?

And except we didn't want to just do what everybody else does.

We wanted to do something different.

And this year's first nigh will ring in 2007 with a ball.

Literally.

The future of Pittsburgh is here on top of Penn Avenue place, and it's set to rise at midnight.

The future of Pittsburgh is ball made completely of recycled materials aluminu framing covered by echo resin, signifying Pittsburgh's future as a green city.

We really decided that the Three Rivers was the most recognizable icon for the city.

It's wrapping aroun what we consider a crystal ball, which represents the future.

So it's the future of Pittsburgh.

And, raising the ball has everything to do with the concept of raising the ball and not dropping the ball and high hopes for the future and positive attitudes.

But it also has a practical reason.

We felt that the ball at the top of the flagpole gave everybody the best view.

Weighing almost 1,000 pounds, the ball is six feet seven inches in diameter and will rise to a height of 74ft from the roof of Penn Avenue in place, or, as many know it, the former Horne's department store.

We're really proud of this.

We're proud to be part of somethin that is emblematic of the pride the Pittsburghers have, you know, and it's something that we're we're we're happy to share.

This is the inaugural rise of what we think will become a Pittsburgh tradition.

Local company Hilbis Magee added the lighting effects with 50 strobes, 72 internal halogen lights and more than 1100 LEDs.

From 6:00 until two minutes before midnight.

It's in a state where it's it's physically kind of illustrating that it has life, it's got an internal pulse.

And also it's got, you know, the rivers are changing some colors and it's got a sparkle effect so that people will be aware of it.

Two minutes befor midnight is when we've got some more activity.

It becomes a little bit more active.

The pulsing, you know, goe from a steady heartbeat, more or less, as a approaches midnight it goes to basically a second.

Count down that.

The crowd has a visual cue to countdown with and then midnight is, you know, a bombastic show and it just it goes crazy and the crowd's going to love it.

And then we of course, we've got, you know, the Zambelli fireworks that, you know, you know, no lighting designer could hold a candle.

I was going to say, are you trying to compete against the Zambelli?

You never know.

We love fireworks.

And we're glad that they're part of the show.

And with so much to do and see, first night 2007 promises to be a hit.

First night festivities begin at 6 p.m.

throughout the Cultural District in downtown Pittsburgh.

You can get your first night button, which is your passport to all of the activities for $8 at the box office, at Theater Square, or at participating Giant Eagle stores in Stacey.

For children five and under.

They're free.

They're free.

All right.

Well, it's always a great night, we know that.

But let's say you either want to go to the Heinz Hall or the Byam or the Benedum.

Right.

Does that work?

This works but what you need to do is get, an admission vouche because it is general seating, admission seating because of the high demand.

So they just need to keep control, crowd control as to who's coming in.

So, if you present this at the box office at Theater Square, you can get two vouchers for every button.

Okay.

That's good.

What about parking?

Parking?

I'm told by, Kevin McMahon that, most of the cultural district is pretty much as is parkin garages and lots will be open.

Penn Avenue will be closed for the parade, but, that's the only, traffi and parking parking difference.

All right, now, the ball that you just let us see, how does it how would it compare?

So everybody's going to make the comparison of the one in Times Square, New York.

Well, actually, Pittsburgh's ball is actually larger than the time square ball b about, seven inches in diameter.

I haven't seen the one in Times Square just on TV, but, hopefully seeing it at midnight with all the fireworks.

It will compare just as well as, anything else we've seen.

Good.

Looking forward to it.

You're going to enjoy yourself that night.

I'm going to enjoy myself an then try and make it down there, and see this thing hit the top and, have it.

It would be a great Pittsburgh tradition.

I mean, it really could start.

Well, you know what?

This thing has been or have been around for, 12, 13 years.

So it's not like this is the first time this.

But but I'm thinking about that ball.

Oh, the ball going up could be a great, great addition I hope so, yeah.

Mike thank you and Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year to you.

Still to come.

Vintage toys now on display in Westmoreland County.

We'll show you wh it is such a special collection.

And then coming up a little bit later on on WQED TV, the premiere of this year' Live from studio A Holiday Jam.

We have a special preview, so stay connected for this You're watching On Q magazin because these foundations care enough about local programing to help pay for it.

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And we couldn't do it without you.

The members of WQED.

Well, if you happen to have little children in your household or grown u children who used to be little, or if you remember when you were little, you know how exciting it is to wake up on Christmas morning, open that package, and have a new toy on Christmas morning.

Well, these days it seems most toys are manufacture in bulk or somewhere overseas.

But there was a time when toys were crafted with great care.

Some of them could be even be called works of Art at the Westmoreland Museu of American Art in Greensburg, a unique collection of vintage toys is now on display.

It's a great way to spend an afternoon and to take some tim to appreciate the craftsmanship of these great old toys.

This is th Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

My name is P.J.

Zimmerlink I'm the preparatory her at the Westmoreland Preparatory.

As the person who is in charge of setting up the displays, move the artwork.

And fortunately for me I get to set up the train layout and handle all the toys.

There are more than our toy show here at the museum.

This is the toy and train show this year called the Art of toys.

A collection of our artwork along with our toys integrated into one, which is the first time we've ever done this.

It gives you a chanc to see a little bit of artwork along with some antique toys very rare toys, some handmade, some mass produce.

Dolls, toy trucks as well as paintings and sculpture.

So you don't usually get to see both together at the same time.

This collection is unique mainly because of some of the one of a kind toys.

Perfect example is the Amelia Earhart Friendship Plane.

It's a plan that's signed by Amelia Earhart.

The only one that we know o that is actually signed by her and still exists.

It was signed by her Pittsburgh.

The planes were given out at a garden party her in Pittsburgh by Amelia Earhart.

The garden party was held by a wealthy industrialist, and they were giving away a kind of door prizes, and she would sign them and give them out.

And that plane is here on display.

You can see the sign of flying on the wall in our gallery.

Next to me here is a train made by a man fro Greensburg named Albert Bauer.

It's produced in the 1920s.

This is an actual train.

This is not a toy.

Everything that's on a real train is on this train.

And it was completely operational.

It was a live steam locomotive.

And I actually talked to someone a few years back who rode on this train as a child.

So Mr.

Bauer actuall had this train out and running.

He had a machine shop here in Greensburg and machined and assembled thi all this entire train by hand.

Just down here, to my to my right are the cast metal push toys on loan to us from Gary Luther, a gentleman from here in Greensburg.

As well as the monarch Silver Kin tricycle made out of aluminum.

Company from Chicago, Illinois.

And on the shelf just above it is a sturdy toy.

From the Pressed Metal Company, a tin pressed metal steamroller.

Next to it is a steam roller.

Metal.

Very well built as all as are most of these toys.

And that's one of the reasons they've held up so well by the Keystone Toy Company.

Our train set, it's 28ft in diameter.

LGB trains, which are G scale.

That means they're one hal inch equals a foot in real life.

There are five trains.

And it's it duplicates a scene of what?

A stereotypical Western PA with a few notable landmarks.

Coffee pot, which is out in Bedford and the Greensburg train station.

It's about nine foot tall at its highest point.

There are four trains and a trolley.

Most notable is the Pennsylvania on the on the lower level, Pennsylvania passenger train.

That typical western Pennsylvania is a large coal train that you can see around in.

And on the top is in New York Central.

Ther all trains are diesel engines, except for the smaller train, which is, which is a steam locomotive.

Trains are actually part of the museum's collection, and.

They're made for outdoor USA, our garden railroad trains.

They can be run outside.

We choose to use them here at the museum because they are so durable and can ru for such a long period of time.

And because of the scale there's not all the little parts and things like that that can be broken.

Lost is easier to maintain.

For example, of something we have here is Fisher Town.

That's a handmade toy town.

The town is made from tin cans.

One of a kind.

So that's in comparison to some of the mass produced.

We have things we have.

When you come into our first gallery here, you'll see two rocking horses, one dating from 1851, dating from 1890.

On the shelves behind me there are some toys, integrated with artwork.

Raggedy Ann, some of the more famous Raggedy Ann.

Felix the Cat.

That's a, amalgamation of toys as well as artwork from our collection here at the museum.

A little bit for everybody.

The Art of toys holiday toy and train exhibi runs through January the 28th.

And for more information, you can log on to our website wqed.org/OnQ.

All right.

Coming up in just a few minutes here on WQED TV 13, the premiere of a brand new live from studio A music show tonight.

It is our annual holiday jam.

And this year we're celebrating our fifth holiday ja with a special anniversary show.

Among the performer B. E. Taylor, Joe Negri, Etta Co Pete Hewlett, Carol Lee Espy and Lisa Bleil and many more, all performing their favorite holiday tunes.

And here, with a preview with Pete Hewlett and Lisa Bleil performing The First Noel.

The first Noel.

The angels did say was to certain.

poor shepherds in fields as they lay in fields as they lay.

Keeping their sheep on a cold winter's night.

That was.

So deep Noel.

Noel, Noel, Noel.

Born is the King of Israel.

They looked up and saw a star shining in the east.

Beyond them far and to the earth.

It gave great light.

And so it continued both day and night.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel born is the king of Israel Noel Noel Noel Noel born is the king of Isreal Noel.

Noel.

Noel.

Born is the king of Israel Noel.

Noel.

Noel.

Noel.

Born is the king.

Born is the king.

Born is the king.

of Israel of Israel That's just a taste of it.

You can go to the WQED homepage@wqed.org to see a list of all of the performers and songs featured on tonight's show, and a list of all of the air dates.

Plus, you can see all five of the pas holiday jam shows back to back this month.

The website has those air dates as well.

Live from studi A Holiday Jam fifth anniversary special is coming up next.

And we'll leave you no with another clip from tonight's show.

Here's Joe Negri with Sleigh Ride.

Stay tuned.

Have a great night.